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Measurement & analysis of energy-saving optimization systems for vending machines

University of British Columbia. Sustainability Office

The purpose of this report was to examine the functionality of load managing devices in the form of vending misers and snack misers and quantify any energy savings which could be achieved if there is full implementation of these devices on the UBC campus vending machines. Three types of machines were evaluated: a conventional chilled beverage vending machine, an Energy Star rated chilled beverage vending machine and an unrefrigerated snack machine. A watt-meter was used to gather baseline data on power and energy while an IR thermometer was used to obtain temperature readings. Thereafter, the VM-170 and SM-170 misers were installed on the vending and snack machines respectively. Surveys were issued to customers and post-miser installation data was obtained followed by data evaluation and comparative analysis on the two sets of data. It was found that the load managing devices saved 41.0%, 9.7% and 43.1% of energy on a conventional chilled beverage vending machine, an Energy Star rated chilled beverage vending machine and an unrefrigerated snack machine respectively. Based on the above percentages and payback period after a cost-benefit analysis, it was determined that the best suitable machines for misers in a full scale analysis, were conventional machines which had estimated cost savings of $73.77/year, energy savings of 126,264kWh/year and a payback period of 3.3 years (without rebate). It was found, as well, that although the average temperature of chilled beverages rose by 0.6°C, 65.7% of survey respondents were unable to distinguish a change in temperature. Through behavioural assessment, there was no need for a customer educational campaign relating to how vending machines work with vending misers since devices did not power down the machines until after closing hours when there was no occupancy. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

University of British Columbia. CEEN 596; UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0108520

Applied Science, Faculty of

Graduate

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